Hello. I am seeking others who have disk problems as I would like to pick their brain for awhile. 
Send me a pm if youād like.
A list of places to get rehab and traction would be greatly apprecaited as well. Yes, I know you can go to a hospital, however not all places are alikeā¦
Thanks,
I had a badly herniated disk a few years back. Pick away.
Me too. I couldnāt stand up for three months.
I could, but it took me ten minutes, literally, to do so, and then the pain was so intense I blacked out (twice) and awoke to my darlin bashing me in the head and found a hairbush handle between my teeth.
Seems when I was snoozing, she called 119 and they said āHe might be having a seizure so keep his mouth open.ā
Donāt fret though jeff, now I look back and laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh. er, yeahā¦laughā¦chuckle maybe
On the fixing the problem note, mine was popped right back in when the therapist put me face down on the table and as he put my leg over his shoulder he pushed down on my spine with all his might.
It was one of those situations where you scream and the entire therapy room full of Chinese people like stop what they are doing and turn to watch the adohga cry in his face pillow.
cheers! 
Thanks for the quick replies!
Wellā¦ for about four years now on and off, I have had minor tingling in my leg, after seeing a chiropractor almost each time the pain went away almost instantly, soā¦ I didnāt figure it was anything to be worried about. This past August however, after a night out the next morning I couldnāt get out of bed, it was so incredibly painful to walk it was unbelivable, I was hunched over with each step taking about 10 seconds and the pain was just aweful. After about a week and a visit to the chiropractor the pain subsided and I didntā think much of it, though in the back of my mind I was thinking, MRI, MRI. But didnāt. It happend again in October and I said thatās it, I went to a doctor and got an MRI. It appears I have a bulging disk beween L5/S1, with degeneration in L4/L5 also. Of course this it the worst place. The MRI basically showed a bulge that was pressing up agaist the nerve and what they call a black hole in L5, all the fluid is basically gone, or as they say disk degeneration.
So, my options, as theyāve said in November to me is rehab or surgery. I am not too excited about having surgery, know other people who have said it only leads to more surgeries and more problems and to do rehab until it kills me.
So, I started doing rehab in December, not nearly enough as I should have been doing it, and now I am doing it about 3 times a week, however, for the last month after giving the cat a bath, I must have twisted wrong or something, well I ended up having that aweful pain again which limits walking, getting up, bending, sitting and pretty much everything else.
The most recent trip to the bone moving doc put my leg and lower back in a great deal of pain, that was a few days ago and I am still sore from it, I canāt tell anymore if I am numb or just painful, which isnāt good.
I want to know where you went for rehab or if you went at all, and who your chiropractor is? I donāt trust the little clinics as they litterally disable people sometimes.
I am using a TENS unit, though I think I need someone to show me where to put the dang stickers so I get the most benefits.
I can tolerate the pain to a certain point, but my worries are the numbness, I do not want to lose sensation in my leg forever, and of course their is the possibility of having to wear the ol diaper if it gets too serious and starts causing bladder and bowl issues.
Somethings I am doing or considering are below:
Glucosamine - been told no evidence but a lot of people use it.
MSM - same
Hyaluronic Acid - said it can help the pain, but not sure.
Magnesium and Calcium - been told this could worsen the problem and cause bone spurs.
Acupuncture Treatment - been around a long time but need someone who is really trained, not just a clinic.
At this point, now itās been about 6-7 months of this crap, the pain comes and goes, but each time the crippling pain comes it lasts just a bit longer each timeā¦
JD, who made you scream?
Are their any good rehab centers here? The one I am going toā¦ itās justā¦ wellā¦ a bit old and the pelvic traction machine kinda makes me painful sometimes. I do not think the equipment there is enough to help my problem. They only do TENS, pelvic traction and some heat theapy. I have been told to use one of those swiss balls and other stretches. I do some at home, but not enough. I am not currently taking any medications other than an advil now and again when it gets unbearable.
Any suggestions of where to go other things to do would be very much apprecaited!
Gosh, it was years ago, and just the guy on duty in the therapy room.
I wouldnāt have the surgery. Spine? Knives? No way.
[quote]
I can tolerate the pain to a certain point[/quote]
You HAVE to do the therapy though brother. If you donāt EVEN if your back feels āokā now, years down the road you WILL regret it.
Swim, hike, dive, keep active. Those little leg lifties and stretches wonāt cut it.
I have no idea who you should see, but isnāt there a chiropractor who advertises on Forumosa? Why not give Dr Kraknbreak a try? 
My back problems were followed by a severe case of anklyosing Sponodilitus, a REALLY nasty autoimmune disease that attacked my back, neck and feet in particular. I am by NO means joesport, but walkng and scuba diving have probably put years of easier walking on the end of my life.
My advice, take care of this now.
Good luck!
oh and, I got accupuncture for about a year. I highly recommend it! My guy was a 100% Chinese communist. VERY interesting!
I think if I could recover from my situation then virtually anybody can.
97% of herniated discs do not require surgery. If you have a problem the best thing to do is lie down and simply let it rest.
The reason you feel pain is that when the disc ruptured(in your case) it did so with such force that it has inflamed the nerve and the surrounding tissue. If you do any kind of activity you simply continue inflamming the nerve. This can lead to a build up of scar tissue and also unstoppable degeneration of the nerveās casing. If you let it rest, however, the nerve will eventually recover and the surrounding tissue will return to normal. Then you will have a healthy nerve and no stenosis (shrinking of the canal that surround the nerve caused by the initial episode).
Once this happens you will still have a protruding disc and it will occasionally bump the nerve but because of the recovery process there will be enough room in there for both the protrusion and your nerve. In fact, if the disc was extruded as you described their is a good chance the stuff that came out will be reabsorbed as your body treats it as a foreign substance and will break it down. You still have a way to go as now you only have the disc casing seperating your vertebrae. This will harden over time effectively fusing your vertebrae.
My case was so bad I lost almost 3 cm of muscle in my lower calf due to the nerve damage. It never grew back.
Donāt worry too much. Rest. I lied down for three months with my wife feeding me on the floor. I was lucky in a way because I had an income coming in without working. However, I still wouldnāt have worked if that wasnāt the case. What is a few months out of your life versus a life of pain.
I donāt mind to do the therapy and am doing it now, but feel it is not enough, and I want to know what therapy I should be doing? I have been told not to exert myself too much right now otherwise I will make it worse, certainly I should be lying flat on a bed for a couple of weeks, which is what I intend to do over CNY.
The only therapy is rest until the nerve recovers.
After that you have to build the muscle tone. There are, apparently, tiny muscles in the spine that turn off when it experiences trauma. These have to be reactivated in much the same way a childās are activated when it learns to walk.
Follow the advice of CS Lewis in your signature.
Does anyone know a rehab center in Taipei that provides more than TENS/EMS, pelvic traction and heat therapy? I am looking for a place that uses Swiss balls and arch up/press up stretches to stretches you and strengthen the core.
Are you sure this is the kind of therapy that you need? If so, how do you know?
Well, I have a friend back home who has had back surgery and he has recommended not to have surgery, and he is becoming a doctor. From what I gather these are standard at rehab centers in the US. But I could be wrong, I have not actually researched the centers and what they provide, but from the reading I have been doing the more stretching I do the better off I am going to be.